Stevens better than Chelios?

Three of TSN's talking heads weighed in on various NHL topics in this week's edition of TSN's The Quiz, and they make a surprising set of comments regarding Red Wings defenceman Chris Chelios, who passed New Jersey Devils mainstay Scott Stevens to become the NHL's all-time winningest player on Tuesday:

Bob McKenzie: Boy, that's a tough one but I'll say Stevens. Just because he was a more impact player, because of the way that he hit, and that he was feared throughout the league for the way that he hit. Chelios is the ultimate warrior but for me, nobody hit like Stevens and was a fearsome player.

John Tortorella: I will go with Chelios. It's tough to pick between those two - it's a lousy question to be honest with you. Just Chelios' conditioning that he's in and stayed in and what he's done for his team, plus he's an American.

Ray Ferraro: I'm going to say Stevens because he could change the course of the game with one hit. Let's not remember Chelios and compare Chelios as the player he is now, he's obviously far older. When he was young, he was a terrific player but Stevens could change a game in an instant.

I don't buy it. Stevens was a vicious player, someone you knew had no compunctions about the fact that he was out there to hunt you down, but Chelios's ability to grind you down over the course of the game--the analogy suggesting that, when the Wings acquired Chelios, Tomas Holmstrom still had chips of Chelios's Sher-Wood stick embedded in his neck weren't far from the truth. Chris Chelios still has more passion and more competitive desire than any other NHL'er, and he will outlast you every time. To me, you go into the corner with Chris Chelios knowing that you've already lost, and that's unbelievably demoralizing.

Sharks will eat you if you present an easy target. A wolverine (and anybody who's lucky enough to have seen one, in a zoo or otherwise, knows this) will attack you and those around you because you're there.